Volume is Dirty? What does this HD question mean

I turned on my computer today and instead of going to Windows it went to a blue screen that said CHKDSK. That is said "Vollume is Dirty" and proceeded to scan the hard drive. Then, after deleting some files, but not sure which ones were deleted, the pc went into Windows. This is the first time this has happened. Has anybody else had this happen and can someone please tell me what it means? When it says Volume is Dirty, does it mean the HD is corrupted? I just did a defrag not too long ago and dumped tons of temp files. I've had computers for a long time but never ran into this message before. I hope someone knows what it means. Also-I just installed a lot of updates from the MicroSoft.com Windows update website. And I'm running Norton's Internet Security, which I keep updated.

okay, thank you mombodog. I hope I don't have to do a complete clean reinstall. I ran checkdisk a few days ago and just tonight I ran checkdisk again. The first time it ran, there were files that the pc deleted. It went by too fast for me to write everything down, but it had to do with file 65523. At least that is what I think it was. There were others also, and a Registery file was deleted. If the pc continues to act up, should I start backing up my files and do a clean install, and if I do a clean install, how do I go about doing it on this 9100? I never tried it on this computer. I know a lot of people had lots of problems doing clean installs when the 9100 first came out. Everyone was getting the blue screen of death. I'd like to reformat the hard drive, get rid of Dell's software. I have the OS disk and the blue Resource CD. What I don't know is if any of the original drivers are on these disks, and if they are, I imagine they are old by now. Dell sent me two OS cd's. One is dated 2004 and the other 2005. The Resource cd is dated 2005. Do you remember all the complaints on the forum about two years ago when people bought the Dimension 9100 and wanted to do clean installs from the beginning and they were getting the Blue Screen? That is what I want to avoid, but I don't want my pc to crash either.

That is what I'm afraid of. I've only had this computer for 2 years. Is that the average lifespan of a hard drive? I still have my warranty under Dell. I bought the extended warranty. So I know I could get the hard drive replaced. Would a new hard drive comes with Windows pre-installed, and would they send a tech to install the drive? I have a Maxtor HD in this computer. My other computer went through 3 Maxtor Hard drives because Dell finally just replaced my 8400 with this 9100. Can you tell me which hard drives are the better ones? Which ones last longer, and if I run Dell diagnostics on the hard drive, will it give me a real answer as to whether the HD is ready to go? Lately I've been getting a lot of "can't read memory" error messages.

If the hard drive should fail, I will have no access to another computer to get in touch with Dell. Do you have any telephone numbers for Dell that I could write down now so I can have them on hand?

According to Device Manager, I have a Maxtor HD, but it says on the invoice there is a Serial ATA hard drive. So I'm a bit confused. Hopefully things will keep working. Last time I called Dell about a year ago, I was on hold for hours. It was ridiculous and then I got someone that didn't understand English very well.

I just ran the HD diagnostics by hitting F12 when the Dell Logo came up. Didn't take long to test the hard drive. It came up Fail-Error Code 7. Does this mean I should back up my data ASAP and give Dell a call to send to a Hard Drive and a tech to install it? This would explain all the error messages I've been getting and how irratic the OS has been. I thought hard drives lasted longer than 2 years.

I went online and chatted with a tech from Dell. They had me run the diagnostics for the hard drive. It took forever to run that test. I pressed F12 when the Dell Logo came up., then they told me to go into boot to utility partition. Then click on Hard Drive and then Run Test. The test found 10 errors. Now I have to get back in touch with Dell and give them the codes for the errors. Every test that was run on the hard drive said Fail, then gave a code.You wouldn't believe how long it took the computer to run the test. I started last night around 2pm and just finished a few minutes ago around 5pm. So now I have to see what Dell is going to say all of this stuff means.

I just finished chatting with Dell using their online chat. They are sending me a new hard drive. Probably like the one I already have. The tech will install it, but it's up to me to reinstall the OS, and I'm not too thrilled about that. They said someone would call me and help me, but I'll believe it when I see it. I forget, when a new hd is installed, doesn't everything in the back of the pc have to be unplugged, like the printer and scanner? I know that the monitor stays hooked up. I also have a webcam. Guess I'll have to unplug that also. It's a royal pain having to reinstall all of my programs. Gee, I think these hard drives would last a bit longer than 2 years. It never fails. Just when I have all my programs working the way I want to, I have to start from scratch again by reinstalling them one at a time. Then there are all the updates that I have to get. It is going to take a while. Dell told me that techs don't install the OS system, just hardware. I would think after paying all the money I paid for this computer, they could also install the OS system and drivers. By now I'm sure I'm going to have to update everything.